new online possibilities: opportunities and challenges

New online possibilities:opportunities and challengesGeoff Crane, Ken DicksonQuestacon – The National Science and Technology Centre

Hello!

We’re Geoff and Ken, the Digital Media Managerand Digital Media Producer here at Questacon.

Today, we want to talk about the Internet.

PART ONE: Our Approach

“It’s about engagement.Here’s your audience.

Here is where they are.Go meet them there.”

Adam Rozan, Oakland Museum of California

“Killer Statue – Psyched About the Site!”The New York Times, 12 March, 2008

For the past dozen or so years now, museums,science centres, and cultural institutions – alongwith the rest of the world – have embraced theInternet as a communication tool.

For places like Questacon, it’s meant developingweb sites that:

•advertise exhibits•list opening times

•deliver online activities, games and puzzles

We’re pretty good at that.

2 059 321 visitors to our site last year!

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However, as you’ve undoubtedly heard, there’s a buzzaround things “Web 2.0”.

Fortunately, our community has responded to that byincluding new elements into our sites. Now, in addition tothe exhibit descriptions, the opening times, the onlineactivities, games and puzzles, we’ve been adding:

•discussion boards•blogs

•podcasts•wikis

We’ve got a web site, and we’re Web 2.0!So what’s with a statement like this?

“It’s no longer enoughfor a museum to put up a web site

and hope that people find it.”


PART TWO: The Audience

First, let’s see what % of kids are on the Internet:

65% of Australians 5-14 years old

“Children’s Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities”Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006

92% of Australians 15-17 years old

“Household Use of Information Technology”Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006-2007

Wow. Okay, they’re online.

Are they into science?

“Science Competencies for Tomorrow’s World”Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2006

1% attend a scienceclub

4% listen to radioprogrammes aboutadvances inscience


5% borrow or buybooks on sciencetopics



10% read sciencemagazines orscience articles innewspapers




11% visit web sitesabout sciencetopics





16% watch TVprogrammes aboutscience

11% visit web sitesabout sciencetopics





11% visiting science web sites!

It isn’t a huge number, but it’s not entirelyunexpected. I wonder how much of that 11% wasat school?

So, what else is our audience into?

What do Australian kids 5-14 years old do outside of school hours?

97% watched television, videos or DVDs83% had done homework or other study75% had read for pleasure68% had been bike riding64% participated in organised sports64% had played electronic or computer games55% visited public library49% had spent time on art and craft activities37% visited museum or art gallery30% attended performing arts event24% had been skateboarding or rollerblading

“Children’s Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities”Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006

Television… homework… bike riding… that’s prettymuch what I was like at that age too.

Back in the day, I used to keep in touch with friendsby either visiting them or calling them on thephone.

Here’s where I think it gets interesting…

How today’s teen with access to the Internet and a mobilekeeps in touch with their friends every day:

70% talk on their mobile60% send texts54% instant message47% send messages over social network sites46% talk to friends on landline telephone35% spend time with friends in person22% send email

“Teens and Social Media”Pew Internet, 2007

That’s new. Seven different methods of communication: twomobile based, three Internet based.

“Young people inhabit a vastly different worldto that experienced by their parents

and the current crop of policymakers in their youth.”

“For young people,the Internet and the opportunities it offers

are not novelties but are part of everyday life.”

“Behind the Screen: The Hidden Life of Youth Online”Institute for Public Policy Research, 2008

PART THREE: Their Internet

We know they’re online, buthow does our audience use the Internet?

First, we know it’s seen as a research tool of sorts:

“The Internet as a Resource for News and Information about Science”Pew Internet, 2006

If you wanted to learn more about a specific sciencetopic, where would you go first for more information?

the Internet 56%

library 14%

other 10%

bible / church 4%

television 4%

science magazines 3%

scientific journals 3%

newspapers 3%

books 2%

doctor 1%

However, learning about “a specific science topic” doesn’t really rate in a youth’stime online. What they are doing is more like:

81% go to websites about movies, TV shows, music groups, or sports stars77% get information about news and current events68% send or receive instant messages IMs57% watch video sharing site55% use an online social networking site like MySpace or Facebook55% get information about a college or university you are thinking of attending49% play computer or console games online38% buy things online, such as books, clothes, and music28% look for health, dieting, or physical fitness information19% download a podcast18% visit chatrooms

“Teens and Social Media”Pew Internet, 2007

In addition:

55% of teens 12-17 years have created a profile online

And of that group:

84% post messages to a friend’s page or wall76% post comments to a friend’s blog61% send a bulletin or group message to all of your friends

“Social Networking Websites and Teens”Pew Internet, 2007

Instant messages… video sharing… social networksites…

It’s all about the social.

PART FOUR: Is our approachtheir Internet?

Just to recap, the title of this little presentation was:

New online possibilities:opportunities and challenges

Remember…

“It’s about engagement.Here’s your audience.

Here is where they are.Go meet them there.”

Adam Rozan, Oakland Museum of California


The opportunity is clear.

We know:

65% of Australians 5-14 years old and92% of Australians 15-17 years old using the Internet

68% send or receive instant messages IMs55% of teens participating by creating online content55% use an online social networking site like MySpace or Facebook57% watch video sharing site

but that only…

11% visit web sites about science topics

Go where is the audience is.

(Hint: It’s not your web site.)

Last year, we built climateXchange.aspacnet.org,a site containing videos, photos, and stories abouthow climate change affects people around theworld.

We thought it’d be good to cross-post the samevideos that we receive at climateXchange toYouTube.

And here’s what we saw:

Coral Bleaching

9895 views at YouTube477 views at climateXchange

As at 20 November 2008

20 times as manyvisitors saw the video at YouTube

than did on our climateXchange site.

While we love climateXchange – it looks good, it’sgot a Google Maps mashup, it’s got all sorts ofbackground info on climate change – our role asscience communicators is to get the message infront of an audience.

And as much as we’d like it to be, that audienceisn’t at climateXchange.

We’re not the only ones taking advantage of this space.

Check out what the Ontario Science Centre hasaccomplished with their presence on YouTube. Millions ofvisitors have watched their videos:

Of course, it’s not just YouTube.

On Flickr.com, the Australian National Archives has begunposting photos from their collection.

Sydney’s Powerhouse has had such success with theirhundreds of photos on Flickr that new photos they addthere are not only attracting views, the audience has gonesocial by taking the photos and

providing commentary, feedback, and discussion.

Now, not everything is a success. Going back to theOntario Science Centre, check out how many videosthey’ve got with only a few dozen views:

But the few that have “hit”, have hit big.

Now, it’s not all Flickr and YouTube…

The challenge in all this is…

1. Identifying the audience,be that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or ...

2. Developing content that suits that audience.3. Accepting that sometimes, your content will miss.4. Accepting that sometimes, the audience will move on.

5. Trying again.6. And again.7. And again.

Remember: “It’s no longer enough for a museum toput up a web site and hope that people find it.”

Take your content where the audience is.Accept that a lot of what you will do will fail.

And when it does fail, don’t be afraid tokeep trying again and again

until you find something that works.

“Today’s learners livein that online experimental environment.

Investments must be made now,while a new generation of learners

can be reached where they are now …before they diverge yet further

from today’s educational methods.”

“Fostering Learning in the Networked World:The Cyberlearning Opportunity and Challenge”

Report of the National Science FoundationTask Force on Cyberlearning, 2008

Geoff [email protected]

Ken [email protected]

Bookmarks for web sites mentionedin this presentation are online at:http://delicious.com/asten2008

new online possibilities: opportunities and challenges

Education